Three men caught and released a great white shark in Panama City Beach, Florida, on Sunday, AL.com reports.

Gabriel Smeby told AL.com that he and two other anglers, Derrick Keeny and Kyle Register, caught the 9-foot, 8.5-inch male shark about 3:15 a.m. Sunday. It took the trio about 45 minutes to bring the shark ashore, Smeby said.

"I feel like we made history the other day," Smeby said. "We talk to everybody from Texas to the southern tip of Florida up the eastern seaboard, and as far as we can tell, it's the only one land-based ever caught in the Gulf of Mexico."